Lots of people ask me how tall is the average volleyball player. Those people just want to make sure they will be tall enough to be able to play volleyball.
It’s not possible to find any official data when it comes to the average volleyball player height. So, I decided to calculate the average male and female volleyball player height on my own. Here’s what I found out.
This is the average volleyball player height.
| Average Male Volleyball Player Height | Average Female Volleyball Player Height |
|---|---|
| 196.02 cm (6.43 ft) | 181,43 cm (6.28 ft) |
What’s the average male volleyball player height?
What we know about male volleyball players is that they are way taller than the average man. Players who are tall, usually have some advantage over their shorter opponents. They have more possibilities when blocking or attacking. Right now, let’s calculate exactly how tall is the average volleyball player.
In order to do so, I’m going to take 100 random volleyball players from 10 random clubs. I’ll add their height and divide by 100 to obtain the average height.
Take a look at the results
Zenit Kazan: 200,3 cm (6,57 ft)
Skra Belchatow: 195,8 cm (6.42 ft)
Zaksa Kedzierzyn-Kozle: 196,9 cm ( 6.46 ft)
Trentino Volley: 197,5 cm (6.48 ft)
Lube Civitanova: 195,7 cm (6.42 ft)
Sada Cruzeiro: 195,7 cm (6.42 ft)
Khatam Ardakan: 193,8 cm (6.36 ft)
Fakel Novy Urengoy: 197 cm (6.46 ft)
VfB Friedrichshafen: 196,5 cm (6.45 ft)
Fonte Bastardo Azores: 191 cm (6.27 ft)
The average volleyball player is 196,02 cm (6.43 ft).
Some volleyball players retire, and they are replaced by young players, so the average height keeps changing. As a rule of thumb, we should assume that it might be 195 cm-197 cm. It’s about 15 cm than the average man’s height.
What’s the average female volleyball player height?
We already know that male players are about 196 cm (6.42 ft). Right now, it’s time to find out how tall are female players.
Of course, everyone knows that they aren’t that tall. I’m going to calculate it the same way as men’s height.
Galatasaray Daikin Istanbul- 182,8 cm (5.99 ft)
Impel Wroclaw- 183,3 cm (6.01 ft)
VC Wiesbaden- 180,5 cm (5.92 ft)
SF Paris Saint Cloud- 180,8 cm (5.93 ft)
VC Sneek- 181,2 cm (5.94 ft)
VK UP Olomuc- 182,5 cm (5.99 ft)
LP Salo- 180 cm (5.91 ft)
LP Kangasala- 179,4 cm (5.89 ft)
Kralovo Pole Brno- 184,6 cm (6.06 ft)
Haifa VC- 179,2 cm (5.88 ft)
The average female volleyball player height is 181,43 cm (6.28 ft).
So, because of constant fluctuations, it’s safe to say that the average female volleyball player’s height is 180 cm(5.91 ft)-183 cm (6 ft). The average woman’s height is about 160 cm (5.25 ft)
He is the tallest men’s volleyball player
The average height is only average. There are shorter and taller players. Lots of people might be curious, who is the tallest volleyball player and how tall he is.
The tallest volleyball player is Wuttichai Suksara. He is a Thai middle blocker, and he’s 224 cm (7.35 ft)! He’s officially the tallest player in the world. He’s playing in the Thai league. Suksara’s shoe size is 56 (Europe) or 22 (USA) so it’s hard to find the right shoes for him. He was diagnosed to have gigantism.
Many people were wrong thinking that Dmitrij Muserskyi is the tallest. The Russian player is 218 cm. If you want to see the full ranking of the tallest volleyball players in the world, click here.
Who is the tallest female volleyball player?
On my website, I have also created the ranking of the tallest women in volleyball. You can find it here.
The tallest woman in volleyball is Alba Hernandez. Compared to Wuttichai Suksara her height isn’t that impressive, because she’s 207 cm (6.79 ft). Hernandez comes from Puerto Rico, and she’s a middle blocker in the German team Rote Raben Vilsbiburg.
The shortest male and female volleyball players
But volleyball isn’t only for tall people. There are players who are below the average height. I mean way below the average.
For example, the shortest men’s volleyball player is Farhad Zarif. This Iranian player is only 165 cm (5.41 ft). As you can guess, he’s a libero. Zarif plays in Paykan Tehran, and he has number of individual awards for being the best libero during Asian tournaments. He’s not officially called the shortest volleyball player, but for sure, he’s the shortest among players who take part in more popular competitions.
Compared to Dmitrij Muserskiy, Farhad Zarif looks like this.
When it comes to the shortest female player, it’s Jorella Marie de Jesus. This Filipino player is only 152 cm (4.99 ft)! She’s the player of Perlas Spikers. What’s interesting is she isn’t only playing as a libero. She is also an outside hitter because she jumps pretty high and earns some point blocking and attacking.
Just look at the video below.
Can you play volleyball if you’re short?
If you’ve seen the tallest players, you might have been a bit frightened. You have no chance to be that tall.
But you might have seen the average height, and you are still frightened.
The shortest volleyball players gave you just a bit of hope, right?
If you’re short, you can play volleyball. It depends on how short you are. If you are a man and your height is under 180 cm (5.90 ft), you should definitely choose a libero position. Basically, the shorter you are as a libero, the better it might be. A libero is in charge of defense, which means, he has to be athletic and have good coordination. Shorter people usually have better movement, so even if you’re 170 cm (5.78 ft), don’t discourage yourself, because you can easily be a good libero.
If you’re between 180 cm-185 cm, it’s a good chance for you to be a setter. Setters aren’t usually huge. In order to set the ball, you don’t need your height that much. However, setters are in charge of blocking. That means that you can be 180 cm, but in that case, you have to jump quite high.
When you’re a woman and you’re under 175 cm (5.74 feet), you can be a libero. If you’re less than 180 cm (5.91 ft), consider being a setter. Women over 180 cm can play in literally every position.
What is the minimum height for a volleyball player?
There isn’t any official document regulating the minimum height for a volleyball player. So even if you’re very short, you can still be a volleyball player, but of course, you are only constrained to be a libero.
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